Eye-cap and lid-closer.



C. B. DOLGE. EYE GAP AND LID CLOSER.

(Application filed July 16, 1900.) (No Modal.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT ETCE.

CARL, B. DOLGE, OF WESTPORT, CONNECTICUT.

EYE-CAP AND LID-CLOSER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 683,556, dated October 1, 1901. Application filed July 16, 1900. Serial No. 23,849. (No model.)

To (LZZ Ll/72107 it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL B. DOLGE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of WVestport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Eye-Caps and Lid-Closers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in means for covering the eyes of dead persons and retaining the lids closed over said eyes and belongs to that class of inventions described in Letters Patent No. 450,980.

It is frequently the case that the eyelids of a deceased person will separate more or less at or after death, in accordance with the circumstances governing the individual cases. It is accordingly desirable to provide practical and inexpensive means to prevent this separation of the lids, so as to have the face present a better or more natural appearance. The eyeballs at death also settle more or less, which change likewise leaves a somewhat unnatural expression upon the face. Consequently I have improved upon devices of this class, adapting it to be placed over the eyeball and beneath the lids in a manner to fill out the latter and retain them in a positivelyclosed position.

It is therefore the object of my invention to provide a commercial inexpensive device which may beproduced and disposed of to undertaker-s for the above use and which is simple in its application, practical of operation, and cheap to manufacture.

With the above purpose in view my invention resides and consists in the novel construction illustrated upon the accompanying sheet of drawings, forming a part of this specification, upon which similar characters of reference denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several figures, and of which- Figure 1 illustrates a front view of my improved eye cap. Figs. 2 and 3 represent edge and end views, respectively, of the construction shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 illustrates the application of my invention, the same being shown in central vertical cross-section between the eye balls and lids, as it would appear in use on the eyes of deceased persons. Fig. 5 shows a modification of my invention.

While my invention maybe carried into effect in several Ways and of various materials, I have shown in my first figures what I deem the simplest and most desirable commercial form of the invention, the same bein g preferably formed of sheet metal stamped up into a concave shape. These metallic caps may be of uniform thickness througherence marked upon the several figures of my drawings, it will be seen that A represents an oblong concave metallic disk, and B B two horizontal lines or series of hook-shaped prick points projecting from near the center of the convex side of said disk, the points of the two series of said hooks being deflected inward or toward each other. As will be apparent, these two seriesof perforations are arranged transversely across the central face of the disk in a manner to engage the under side of the eyelids adjacent to their edges, thus posi-- tively preventing the same from separating. These projections are preferably produced with punches operating from the opposite side in a manner to perforate the metal and deflect the stock therefrom outward, as indicated. Said hooks, however, may be cast or produced in other manners, and, in fact, I do not Wish to limit myself to the use of hooks upon the disk for the purpose, since other means can be employed with the same result. In Fig. 4, C represents an eyeball, and D the upper, and E the lower, lid of the same.

\Vhen applying my cap in practice, the lids of an eye are laid back and the caps placed over the ball,whereupon the covers are drawn together over the caps in a manner to be engaged by the hooks thereof, as will be apparent from Fig. 4:. In said application the lid is engaged by the upper row of hooks, while the lower lid is similarly engaged by the remaining or lower series of hooks.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5 it will be seen that instead of employing the hooks a series of slits are provided in the metal, producing two series of engaging edges F, each series being deflected toward the middle of the disk in a manner to prevent the eyelids too before mentioned.

from separating, as is the case vith the hooks I- am aware that a device has heretofore been invented for the purpose of retaining ing oft to the peripheral edge and a series of substantially horizontally arranged transverse projections adjacent to the central por tion of the disk to engage the under side of the uniting edges of the lids of an eye in a manner to prevent them from contracting and separating.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, this 25th day of June, A. D. 1900.

CARL B. DOLGE.

Witnesses: p

O. M. NEWMAN, ELBERT O. HULL. 

